On Wednesday 17 February, the Raven Trust sent out container number 100! This represents a massive 120,000 boxes of all different shapes and sizes. And at today’s value, this has cost a whopping £1.2m. If the containers were parked end to end, they would stretch for almost a mile! And if the boxes were lined up, they would reach from Strachur to Glasgow! The amazing thing is that every single box and every single penny of this has been donated by the general public.
On behalf of the people of Northern Malawi, who are among the poorest people in the world, grateful thanks are due to each and every person who has been part of this effort.
But it is not just the people who have donated goods and money. Thanks are also due to the very many people who have contributed time. Tasks include receiving boxes, sorting and repacking where necessary, labelling, packing the containers, catering for the packing days, driving vans to collect items, processing the lists, preparing the paperwork for international freight and so much more. It is impossible to count the number of different people who have had a hand in making all this possible; but it is certainly many hundreds. Grateful thanks to each of these.
Container number 100 is a landmark occasion. It is also the last container to be sent out from Strachur. But it not the end of the work of the Raven Trust. A depot has been opened in Dundee which means that this work can continue unabated